What would it take to meet basic human needs, including eliminating institutional racism, in King County by the year 2020?

This was the rallying cry of a group of human service providers across Seattle and King County in the fall of 1998. As members of the Seattle Human Services Coalition, they were part of a multi-racial, multicultural group of over 172 human service agencies and programs and other advocates working throughout the Seattle/King County area. Members help residents to meet their basic human needs around issues as varied as homelessness, hunger, child care, domestic violence, aging, literacy, disabilities, sexual assault, community health care, employment, racial equity, and the development of children and youth.

The Vision

We choose to build, nurture and sustain a community where all human beings have access to the basic necessities and resources for human survival and advancement. The 2020 Vision Campaign is designed to promote the creation of a society in which everyone has equal access to adequate resources by the year 2020. We intend to foster the creation of a network of sustainable human services, accessible to all, that also works to eliminate the need for emergency, crisis services. An essential part of this effort will be to dismantle and eliminate institutional racism, which is defined by 2020 Vision as the systemic inclusion of racist practices and policies, which withhold power from and/or bar access to resources or advancement due to race.

We believe that access to the means to meet these basic human needs should not be restricted or denied due to race, color, national origin, age, income, veteran status, education level, gender, physical or mental disability, religious beliefs or practice, sexual orientation, or by language, cultural practices or institutional racism.

We believe that our community has adequate resources to sustain the basic human needs of each of its residents. But barriers have been established, institutionalized, and propagated to keep this from occurring. We see the need for transformation.

We believe that it is an essential human right for every person to have access to the basic necessities and resources for human survival and advancement. These necessities and resources include:

safe and affordable housing;

adequate nutritious food;

access to quality health care;

a livable wage job to support self and family;

affordable and available community activities;

universal, quality education;

safe, affordable childcare that is culturally competent, conveniently located and meets the needs of working parents; and